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Williamsport Birth Negligence Attorney

YOU HAVE HAD YOUR BABY, AND IT SHOULD BE THE HAPPIEST TIME IN YOUR LIFE, BUT THEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG DUE TO NEGLECT BY THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY OR A PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURER.

inner-content-img1People caught in the glow of meeting their newborns are not always aware that the quality of care after the baby is born can be just as critical as the attention received during labor and childbirth. The fact is that newborn babies and their mothers are especially vulnerable in the postpartum period, and if medical professionals fail to provide the correct care, serious injuries, and even death, can result.

If you or your child has suffered injury due to the negligent care of the hospital, physicians, neonatal nurses, anesthesiologist, other medical staff or pharmaceutical manufacturers, or even equipment providers, you may be entitled to compensation. The Pennsylvania attorneys of Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters have spent decades honing their skills and successfully representing families who have suffered an injury due to birth negligence by medical professionals and pharmaceutical or device providers. Our deep sense of compassion and loyalty to each client drives us to pursue each claim vigorously to try to get you the compensation you deserve.

Since medical malpractice law is highly regulated by a complex body of rules, we offer a free consultation to examine the facts of your individual situation and determine the best way to proceed with your case, if we believe there is a claim.

We are in a position, when necessary, to utilize the services of nurses and doctors or other health care professionals.

What Are Birth Issues for Families?

There are many things that medical healthcare professionals should do during and after birth to reduce the risk of harm to the baby or the mother. If they do not follow these procedures and rules or if they do their work negligently, the professional or a pharmaceutical or healthcare manufacturer may be found to have violated the standard of care.
Common acts of medical negligence include the following:

  • Failing or refusing to address and treat problems such as diabetes or other medical conditions suffered by the mother or fetus during the pregnancy
  • Failing to properly monitor mother and baby using ultrasound, fetal monitoring, and other modern devices
  • Giving the wrong medicine or wrong dose
  • Failing to treat jaundice appropriately
  • Failing to recognize distress or depression in the mother
  • Anesthesia errors after birth and failure to recognize anesthesia reactions
  • Failing to recognize and treat a pulmonary embolism, postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) or other maternal bleeding which might lead to stroke, development of blood clots or bowel obstructions or sphincter injuries
  • Failing to recognize or properly treat an infection, which can lead to sepsis or endomyometritis
  • Causing uterine rupture by improperly applying pressure to the mother’s abdomen or improperly using drugs such as Pitocin
  • Failing to recognize and manage preeclampsia or eclampsia (toxemia), which can lead to seizures
  • Many other problems during pregnancy and after birth that can cause serious problems or injury to mother or child.

When there are delays in diagnosis or treatment of issues that arise before, during and after birth, serious consequences may occur such as brain damage, organ failure, shock, or even death.

What Are Problems and Injuries to the Newborn?

Negligent postpartum care to newborns can create injuries that last a lifetime. These may occur when medical professionals fail to:

  • Identify and treat respiratory stress disorder (RSD)
  • Identify and treat jaundice
  • Recognize that a newborn needs intensive care and transfer the baby to neonatal intensive care in a timely manner
  • Test for nerve damage
  • Assess that the heart rate is neither too high nor too low
  • Make certain the baby had no adverse reactions to any drugs administered during pregnancy or delivery
  • Test for low Apgar scores
  • Recognize newborn distress and consult specialists in neonatal care when necessary.

What is Negligence?

Negligence is considered to occur when someone fails to exercise the degree of care expected in that situation and it results in an injury. Doctors and health care professionals are held to the standards of their profession. They are supposed to provide reasonable medical care equal to the standard of other professionals throughout the country.

After birth, it is essential that both mother and child be monitored for signs of postpartum complications. If your healthcare professional acted inappropriately or against the established standard of postpartum care, and this led to injury, the professional may be found negligent and liable for any resulting harm.

In any lawsuit, you must also be able to show that your injury occurred because of your doctor’s negligent actions or inactions. There are even times when a parent, including the father, may be entitled to make a claim for infliction of emotional distress.

In Pennsylvania, the law will sometimes consider comparative negligence. Damage you have sustained may be reduced by comparative negligence, if that is an issue in your case. Certainly, that is not always the case, but it does arise from time to time.

Trust Our Firm for Honest Answers

If you or your newborn has suffered from complications that you suspect were due to a healthcare professional’s careless behavior, let us review the circumstances and determine whether you are eligible for financial damages. We have the resources and experience required to analyze these complex cases and determine whether malpractice occurred.

Working with a skilled team of legal and medical professionals, we will seek to determine if medical negligence was responsible, and we will fight to ensure you receive the maximum possible amount of compensation.

Medical malpractice law is highly regulated by a complex body of rules. Whether in settlement negotiations or pursuing a favorable trial verdict, the experienced attorneys of Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters are familiar with the law and thoroughly prepared and committed to achieving a just outcome. With our sizeable staff, we offer strength in numbers while providing top-notch personal service.

If you or your loved one has suffered from birth negligence, do not delay. Cliff Rieders is a nationally Board Certified lawyer, Past President of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, a founding member of Pennsylvania’s Patient Safety Authority, and a well-known author and lecturer in the field. Consult with Cliff Rieders of Rieders, Travis, Dohrmann, Mowrey, Humphrey & Waters by calling (570) 323-8711 for a free consultation, or use our online contact form.

Based in Williamsport, we serve clients throughout the state of Pennsylvania, offering a free consultation on all injury matters. More than that, we offer you experience, knowledge, compassion, and a long history of results.

Attorney Cliff Rieders

Attorney Cliff RiedersCliff Rieders is a Nationally Board Certified Trial Lawyer practicing personal injury law. A large part of his practice involves multi-district litigation, including cases related to pharmaceuticals, vitamin supplements and medical devices. He is admitted in several state and federal courts, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Rieders is the past regional president of the Federal Bar Association and is a life member of the distinguished American Law Institute, which promulgates proposed rules adopted by many state courts. He is a past president of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice, formerly Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. As a founder of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, he served on the Board for 15 years.

Not only has Rieders held many highly esteemed, leadership positions, he authored legislation related to the Patient Safety Authority and the Mcare Act, which governs medical and hospital liability actions in Pennsylvania. He authored texts upon which both practitioners and judges rely, including Pennsylvania Malpractice Laws and Forms, and Financial Responsibility Law Issues in Pennsylvania, the latter governing auto and truck collisions in Pennsylvania. In addition, he wrote several books on the practice of law in Pennsylvania regarding wrongful death and survivor actions, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice claims and worker rights, among others. Rieders also serves as a resource to practitioners as a regular speaker for Celesq, an arm of the world’s largest legal publisher, Thomson Reuters West Publishing.

As recognition of his wide range of contribution to his profession and of his dedication to protecting the rights of his clients, he received numerous awards, among them the George F. Douglas Amicus Curiae Award, the Milton D. Rosenberg Award, the B’nai B’rith Justice Award, and awards of recognition from the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers. [ Attorney Bio ]